Primary Care access to Specialist Diabetes Team

The main objectives of this project are to provide specialist support to the primary care team to enable them to better support their patients and reduce the risk of complications. This will be achieved through:

1. More responsive advice and guidance.

The Eclipse tool has been purchased by the STP to enable patients at risk to be highlighted to the practice. Specialists will be able to have access to this list and the patient’s clinical notes and a GP can ask for advice on how best to manage. Time needs to be set aside for the specialists to respond to these requests in a timely manner.

2. GP practice education.

We are currently working with our first six practices to test the best ways this could be delivered. Options include 6 monthly visits to carry out ‘virtual clinics’ or themed clinical discussions; use of GP practice shut-down; primary care shadowing of specialist team and vice versa.

3. Implementing single diabetes management guidelines.

Our engagement highlighted considerable variation in the way the diabetes care pathway is delivered in North Devon. We are currently creating a single pathway to include the new STP medicines algorithm.

4. Targeted support to enable continuous improvement of diabetes care.

We are currently gathering the data which will allow practices to understand their outcomes and how they measure against local and national standards. We will be carrying out RCAs for amputations to support this as this is not currently happening. As a result, a training needs analysis will be created and support targeted to each practice’s area of need.